Method and apparatus for mounting filaments on the conductive supports of electric incandescent lamps



1933- w. LEDIG ETAL 1,930,316

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MOUNTING FILAMENTS ON THE CONDUCTIVE SUPPORTS OF ELECTRIC INCANDESCENT LAMPS Filed Feb. 18, 1932 3 Sheets-Sheet l JNVE N TEAS l I ZLLY' LEDZ'E GUSTAV M222: LEE.

v I I JL I BRE'UNJ'E' THEIR A?" TOR may W. LEDIG ET AL FOR MOUNTING FILAMENTS O Oct. 10, 1933. 1,930,316

METHOD AND APPARATUS N THE CONDUCTIYE F ELECTRIC INCANDESCENT LAMPS Filed Feb. 18 1952 SUPPORTS o 5 Sheets-Sheet?! .Z'NVE N THE 5 WZLL'Y' 52715 5- U5 TAI/ MULLER WILL! BREE/N15 BY WV: 7 (Me/QM Tzrzzn AT TURKEY Oct. 10, 1933.

w. LEDIG ET AL METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MOUNTING FILAMENTS ON THE CONDUCTIVE SUPPORTS 0F ELECTRIC INCANDESCENT LAMPS Filed Feb. 18 1932 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 W I I IN v.5 N T DR 5 I I TTLLY' Laura .G'zrs TA? MUL LEA mm: Bzazzrzvrs Tamra Ar i 032x271? Patented Oct. 10, 1933 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MOUNTING FILAMENTS ON THE. CONDUCTIVE SUP- PORTS F ELECTRIC INCANDESCENT LAMS Willy Ledig, Berlin-Lichtenrade, Gustav M iiller,

Berlin- Steglitz, and

Willi Breunig, Berlin,

Germany, assignors to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Application February 18, 1932, Serial No. 593,888,

and in Germany March 3, 1931 Claims.

1o altering the set-up of the apparatus. This is accomplished according to our invention by dropping a filament into a funnel or hopper which directs one end of said filament into the hooked end of a support wire of a lamp mount. The end of said support wire is closed about the filament and then the lamp mount is transferred to.

another position at which the freely hanging end of the filament is guided into a pair of movable transferring jaws which carry said free end at f the filament into a hook at the end of a second support wire of said mount. After closing said second hook the filament then hangs from the support wires and may be mounted on anchor wires to support it in asubstantially horizontal 25 plane by means of apparatus disclosed in U. S. Patent No. 1,816,683, Ledig et 21. said patent discloses a device in which an air jet, blows the filament from its hanging position to a horizontal position where it is held by a number of so fingers. A notched roller turning on an axis parallel to the filament then forms the anchor loops about the filament, thus completing the stem. I Other features and advantages of our invention will appear from the following descrip- 35 tion of species thereof and from the drawings.

In the drawings Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the device comprising our invention; Fig.2

is a plan view of the device; Fig. 3 is a side elevation thereof; Fig. 4 is a detailed sectioned 40 view of filament guiding means; Figs. 5, 6 and '7 are detailed views in perspective: and Fig. 8 is a detailed elevation of successive positions of transferring jaws comprised therein.

Referring to Figs. 1 and. 2, a filament 10 is 45 dropped into a funnel 11 mounted through bracket 12 on a standard 13 which'is mounted on a base 14. Said filament falls through a tube or nozzle 15 mounted at the bottom of said funnel 11, which nozzle 15 has its axis slanting so slightly downward from the horizontal. Said filament lo-issues from the mouth of said nozzle until one end abuts against a ledge 16 at the top of a block 1'7 which is mounted on the base 14. A heating coil 18 surrounds the passage- 55 through the nozzle 15 so asto remove moisture therefrom and prevent sticking of filaments therein.

Previous to the dropping of a filament in the funnel 11 a hooked end 19 of a leading-in wire 20 is lowered into the path of discharge of said filament from the nozzle 15. Said lead wire 20 is part of a lamp mount comprising another lead wire 21 with a hooked end 22, a button rod 23, a stem tube 24, exhaust tube 25 and outer lead wires 26. Said mount is supported by prongs 2'7 and a notched finger 28 of a holding head 29 which is mounted on an indexing table (not shown). After the end of a filament 10 has entered the hook 19, said hook is closed by clamping between a stationary jaw 30, mounted on the block 17 or forming a part thereof, and a jaw 31 pivotally mounted ona pin 32 in the block 17. Said jaw 31 is actuated through a roller 33 mounted on a pin 34 in said jaw by an adjustable screw 35 mounted in a head 36 aifixed to a rod 37 which moves in a sleeve 38 forming a part of the block 17. After said rod 3'? has been raised (by means not shown) so as to close said hook 19 by the pivoting of the jaw 31, it is retracted and the jaw 31 retracts also due to the pull of a spring 39 which is mounted on said jaw at one end and on a pin 40in the block 17 at the other end.

The holding head carrying the lamp mount is then raised, thereby pulling the filament 10 out of the nozzle 15, and indexed to .the position shown at the left in Fig. 1 where it is again lowered with the filament 10 depending from the support wire 20. The filament enters a guide, specifically a split funnel comprising two halves 40, 41, through which it is guided between a pair of jaws 42, 43 (Figs. 2 and 4) to the bottom of an indentation 44 in a fixed plate 45 mounted on the block 17. The jaw 42, which is pivotaliy mounted on a pin 46 (Fig. 2) in a plate 4'7, is then closed against the jaw 43 which is fixedly mounted on the plate 47, by the withdrawalof a finger 48 which bears against extension 49'of jaw 42. A spring 50 draws the extension 49 over, thereby causing the jaw 42 to close against thejaw 43 and grip the end of the filament 10. The finger 48 is mounted on anarm 51 of a lever 52 pivotally mounted on a shaft 53 which is mounted in a block 54 (Fig. 1) Said finger 48 is caused to withdraw from the leg 49 of jaw 42 by the upward which is fixed to the funnel half 40 and which is pivotally mounted on a pin 58 in a lug 59 on an arm 60 on the end of which is mounted the other funnel half 41. Said sliding of the arm 51 across the surface 56 causes the lever 57 to pivot against the action of a spring 61, thereby swinging open the funnel 40, 41. As the arm 51 continues to move down it strikes a lug 62 on a lever 63 which is connected through a leg 64 to the arm 60. Said lever 63 is pivotally mounted on the shaft 53 so that the funnel 40, 41 is swung away from its position over the jaws 42, 43. An adjustable bolt 64 (Fig. 3) is mounted at the lower end of the lever 63 and rests on the base 14 when the funnel 40, 41 is in its normal position over jaws 42, 43, being held there by a spring 65 fixed to the lower end of said lever 63.

The sequence of operations shown in Figs. 5, 6, 7 and 8 next takes place. The jaws 42, 43 are raised by an upright 66 which carries a pin 67 on which is mounted the plate 47 carrying the jaws 42, 43. Said upright 66 is mounted on a shaft 68 which is reciprocated through the block 54 by means not shown. Simultaneously with their upward movement. the jaws 42, 43 are rotated from their horizontal position to a vertical position by an arm 69 which is mounted on the pin 67. A

pin '70 mounted on the end of said arm 69 rides down the inclined edge of'a plate 71, mounted on the plate 45, dueto the pull of a spring 72 which is fastened to said pin and a pin 73 in the upright 66. In Fig. 6 the jaws 42, 43 are at the top of their rise and in a vertical position since the pin 70 has slid off the plate '71 ontoa ledge '14 on the upright 66. At this point the shaft 68 is rotated as shown in Fig. 7, thereby rotating jaws 42, 43 through an angle of 180 so that the end of the filament 10 held therebetween is introduced into the open hook 22 in the support we 21 (Fig. 8). (Filament 10 has been broken in Fig. 8 for cleamess.) The jaws 42, 43 are then, very slightly lowered so that the end of the filament rests in the bottom of the hook 22. Immediately thereafter said hook 22 is closed between a fixed jaw 75, which is mounted at the end of the ledge 16 opposite to jaw 30, and a jaw 76 pivotally mounted on a pin 77 in the block 1'7. Said jaw is pivoted through a roller 78 (Figs. 1 and 8) mounted on a pin 79 in said jaw, by an adjustable screw 80 mounted in the head 36. After closing of the hook 22 the jaw 76 pivots away due to retraction of the head 36 and the pull of a spring 81 which is fastened to a pin 82 in the block 1'7. As said jaw 76 pivots away a finger 83 mounted thereon strikes the leg 49 of jaw 42 and thus releases the filament 10, after which the lamp mount is withdrawn from the device by the rise of the holding head 29. Immediately thereafter the transfer jaws 42, 43 are slightly raised through the upright 66 and then swung back to their original position. Then the rod 55 is pulled down, thereby releasing am 60 with lever 63 which allows the funnel 40, 41 to move back to its position over the jaws 42, 43 (Fig. 2) due to the pull of spring 65, while the finger 48 again engages the leg 49 and thus opens the jaws 42, 43. It will be apparent from Fig. 1 that hooks 19 and 22 of two different lamp mounts will be simultaneously closed in each of the pairs of jaws 30, 31 and 75, 76 respectively. A compressed air line 84 communicating with the passage in nozzle 15 delivers a blast of air after the head 29 is raised from its position over the jaws 30, 31, so that if for some reason there had been no mount in said head or the filament had not been clamped in the lead wire, said filament would be blown out of the nozzle.

What we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. The method of mounting filaments on leads carried by stems for incandescent electric lamps and similar devices which comprises supporting said stem with a pair of leads having hooked ends depending therefrom, feeding a filament through a guide so that one end thereof projects into oneof said book ends, clamping said hooked end around said filament end, withdrawing said stem with said filament depending therefrom, feeding said depending filament through a guide between clamping jaws, so that its free end projects beyond said jaws, closing said jaws, moving said jaws to position said free-filament end in the other of said lead hook ends and finally clamping said second hook end.

2. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination of a filament feeding and guiding means, a support for a stem having lead wires with hooked ends extending therefrom mounted adjacent thereto, a clamping mechanism to which said filament feeding means leads, means for moving said stem support to position a hooked lead end in operative relation to said clamping mechanism, means for operating said clamping mechanism to close said hooked lead end about said filament, a pair of clamping jaws, a guide leading thereto, means for withdrawing said stem from the said clamping mechanism and moving said stem having said filament depending therefrom so as to feed. the free end of said filament through said guide between said clamping jaws so that said free ends projects beyond said jaws, a second clamping mechanism disposed adjacent another hooked lead end, means for moving said jaws so as to position said free end of the filament in said hooked lead end, and means for thereafter operating said second clamping mechanism to close said hooked end around said filament.

3. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination of a filament feeding and guiding means, a support for a stem having lead wires with hooked ends extending therefrom mounted adjacent to said feeding means, a clamping mechanism to which said filament feeding means leads, means for moving said stem support downward to position a hooked lead end in operative relation to said clamping mechanism, means for thereafter operating said clamping mechanism to close said hooked end around said filament, a pair of clamping jaws, a guide leading thereto, means for raising the stem support, moving it horizontally and lowering it with the filament depending from the hooked lead end of said stem so as to feed the free end of said filament through said guide between said clamping jaws so that said free end projects beyond said jaws, a second clamping mechanism disposed adjacent another hooked lead end in its lowered position, means for removing said guide from said clamping jaws, means for tilting and rotating said jaws so as to position said free end of the filament in said hooked lead end, and means for thereafter operating said second clamping mechanism to close said hooked end around said filament.

4. In an apparatus of the class described, a support for a stem having lead wires with hooked ends extending therefrom, a filament transfer mechanism comprising a pair of clamping jaws, 1

as to position said end of said filament in said hooked lead end, and means for thereafter operating said clamping mechanism to close said hooked end around said filament.

5. In an apparatus of the class described, a support for a stem-having lead wires with hooked ends extending therefrom, a filament transfer mechanism comprising a pair of clamping jaws, a guide comprising a split funnel consisting of two halves disposed above said jaws, means for introducing a filament into said guide so that the end thereof projects beyond said jaws, a clamping 

